Page 223 of Between Despair and Hope

Mischievous eyes met mine. “It never is, but this is the best you’re going to get. You never got to say goodbye, and you’ve been tangled up with me ever since. This is our chance.”

Lucia leaned forward, hugging me, and a small golden spot in my heart dimmed and faded as she whispered farewells I’d longed for and secrets she’d kept.

Chapter 63

Rainier

Unabletomove,uselessin all the ways which counted, I watched as that beautiful girl—my flesh and blood—threw herself at the monstrous man trying to kill us both. A blur of white hair and yellow dress mussed by the fire’s ash, she collided with him, wrapping delicate arms around his neck. Her hand glowed white, and he jerked away from her touch. My voice grew hoarse from all my shouting as he reacted in shock—giving her a sick version of an embrace as he wrapped one arm around her waist while she clung to him.

Stopping my assault of rock and earth so as not to hurt her, I fought with all of my might against the shadows which had grown taut around me. Declan let out a surprised laugh before throwing her to the ground at his feet. She landed hard on her knees as he used his dark divinity to restrain her.

“Precious,” Declan said, laughter in his voice as he lifted his hand to his neck where she’d burned him. “Did you think to burn my head off, little girl?” He froze when we heard the first dragon’s roar, and he closed his eyes when the others joined in. “I’d hoped you had kept your beasts in that little hovel in the mountains.”

The scream of an itzki made him jump, and as Lux and Shika flew over us, circling, he moved to stand between me and Elora. The coward knew our dragons held fire, and he sought to protect himself. He couldn’t know the fire breathers wouldn’t have used their flames, not without being commanded to do so. Although, I wasn’t sure how they’d react to us being threatened. Either way, Lux circled above, watching. Shika bullied the itzki who held Cyran though, chasing the monster as it soared higher.

“Make her stop!” Elora yelled, head whipping around. Her eyes bulged as she looked into the sky, and I didn’t know what to do. I called out in hopes the dragon would hear me, but one of Declan’s shadows covered my mouth, muffling me. I began my assault with the earth once more now that Elora was out of the way, but he merely shook his head in annoyance as he batted the bigger rocks away with little effort.

I instinctively reached for the divine fire once more, but without the use of my hands, I couldn’t control it properly. The bond had felt off with her ever since Cyran first began to fall, and I didn’t know why. Those glimmering strands led to her, as they always did, but it was as if she was fading at the end of it. It filled me with the same dread I’d felt when the masters had taken her. Was she still at the dormitory? Outside whatever wards Declan had drawn? Was that the reason for the bond’s state? The solution came to me unbidden, the utilization of my divinity in that way the last fucking thing I ever wanted to do, but I would do it to save us both. I closed my eyes, concentrating on doing to Declan what I’d done to those Folterran soldiers all those years ago. But it wouldn’t work, not the way it was supposed to. It resisted my divinity, his blood repellant.

Declan grunted and toed Elora with his boot, knocking her off her knees onto her backside. I growled in warning, though there was nothing I could fucking do, wrapped up as I was. He’d relented a bit though, not holding me as tightly when he split his divinity between Elora and me, so I began wiggling, trying to pull myself free. I continued trying to draw his blood from his body, and he coughed, causing my heart to speed up. But when he lifted his hand to his lips, he flicked away a few drops of black liquid, unfazed.

“I suppose your blood might work,” he pondered as his gaze lingered on Elora for far too long. I would rip his head off his fucking shoulders. His shadows loosened even more as he stepped in front of her, facing both of us once more. “If it weren’t for those bloody dragons, I’d wait. Though there is that pesky matter of my heir.” As far as I knew, he hadn’t named an heir from his plethora of children, and he didn’t have any with his bonded partner, so I wasn’t sure what he spoke of. Unless he meant Cyran. He rubbed at his chin, deep in thought, and I watched as his shadows slid up behind him, dancing like flames. My bonds loosened once more, and I wondered just how distracted he was.

One black plume slithered over his shoulder, and he looked at it in annoyance before flapping his hand at it in dismissal. Elora gasped, spine tightening as the dark divinity surrounding her fell away.

I realized it just as he did.

He lunged for Elora as my surrounding shadows released and surged toward him. We both jumped to our feet, and she turned that dark divinity on him as she stumbled backward into me. I felt a tug on the bond from Em, but I held Elora’s arms, bracing her as she tightened the shadows around Declan, groaning with the effort.

“You’re a siphon,” I breathed, and my jaw fell open a moment before I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. My brilliant daughter had saved us, and nothing could hold back my affection. I almost wrapped my arms around her but knew she needed to focus.

“Not a very good one,” she grunted. “I’m trying.”

“The shadows are a tool. An extension of you. Use your fist to help guide the power,” I instructed as Declan’s wailing turned into panicked screams. I heard a shriek above, and Cyran began falling once more as the itzki dropped him, diving toward its master. Shika intercepted the creature though, and I turned my attention on the falling prince as my dragon dove out of sight. “You can do it, Elora,” I said. She tensed as Cyran’s screams drew close enough for us to hear him. “I’ve got him. Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”

Keeping one hand gripping her upper arm, I used my wind to slow the prince’s descent, and his screams died down as I guided him slowly to the ground, where he lay in a crumpled heap.

Elora shook as Declan fought against her shadows, but I pulled her against my chest and put my hands on her shoulders.

“If you need me to get my sword to finish this, I will. This is a lot for you to—”

“No,” she gritted out, readjusting her stance. “I want to do it. For you, for Cy, for me.”

“Alright, little one,” I said, squeezing her shoulders in encouragement. She lifted both arms in front of her, fists clenched and knuckles white. She had far greater control than I did of the shadows as Declan lifted into the air. Writhing and shrieking, he tried to escape his fate, but the sound of his bones popping and cracking wrenched through the air—and then there was silence.

She held him there, fists shaking, until I reached forward, circling her wrists with my hands, and she released her hold. Declan dropped to the ground, shadows vanishing, as her hands fell down to her sides.

“Is he dead?” she whispered, and I used Em’s harrowing to know for sure.

“Yes. He’s dead.”

“Good,” she said before flames erupted from her hands, clear in her intent to burn his body.

“Wait!” I cried out just as the itzki fell from above, tumbling out of Shika’s grasp as it disintegrated into ash. They were tied to him, just as the dragons were tied to Em. Elora’s hands were still out, ready to burn Declan’s body with the fire she held in her fingertips, but I approached him and knelt. “Look at this,” I said. “Tell me I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing.”

His ears had changed, narrowing to sharp points at the top.

“Elven,” Elora said on an awe-filled breath. “Did he use magick to hide it?”

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